Here is something else to ponder on...the King's oldest son Whatumoana Paki is well known in the Maori world to be openly gay. One of the reasons Heeni, the sister of the King Tuheitia was not elected is that she has no issue. Therefore...it will be interesting to see how it pans out when her brother dies.

There are also a long list of misdemeanors including the trashing of a luxury hotel suite in Hawaii which required a member of the Kahui Ariki (Senior members of the royal family closely related to the King) to fly over and pay the substantial bill and to retrieve a restrained Whatumoana. Senior figures within Maoridom are also tiring of his diva antics and are refusing to accommodate his "ladies in waiting" (aka his...metrosexual friends) at official functions while he is representing his father.

My wish is that it goes to another line in the family rather then to his children. The Mahuta family would be the most appropriate line that is very closely related to the King. Labor MP Nanaia Mahuta is the niece of the late Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu and cousin to the current King...she would make a wonderful Queen.

This is his son sitting on the right with the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Want to meet the Maori King at the grand ball? Women should wear tiaras and avoid trousers - and, please, speak to him politely for only a couple of minutes.
King Tuheitia's chief of protocol, Helen Kotua, has issued detailed sartorial instructions and even specific questions guests should pose when they meet him at a Grand Ball at Turangawaewae Marae in August.

King's son in boyracer crash - National - NZ Herald News
Police have laid charges after the Maori King's younger son was involved in a boyracer crash from which witnesses say he was lucky to escape alive.
Residents who saw the wrecked Mitsubishi Lancer say they can't believe 16-year-old Korotangi Paki - who was yesterday identified by one of the King's representatives as the driver - survived.
The crash happened on a 50km/h stretch of Riverview Rd, which runs alongside the western bank of the Waikato River, parallel to State Highway 1.

Maori King's title questioned - Northland Northern Advocate
Outspoken Ngapuhi activist David Rankin is on the attack again, this time challenging the right of Tainui leader Tuheitia Paki to use the title "Maori King".
Mr Rankin said in a claim submitted to the Waitangi Tribunal that as long as Government Ministers and Crown agencies continued to refer to Mr Paki as the "Maori King" they were violating Article Two of the Treaty of Waitangi, which promised the Crown would protect each tribe's sovereignty.

Rift over Maori King deepens | NATIONAL News
A rift over the behaviour of the Maori King appears to be gaining momentum with two Maori elders raising concerns that he's too involved in Tainui politics.
A meeting at Turangawaewae, called by Tuku Morgan, was intended to discuss Tainui tribal matters.
But even on the King's home turf kaumatua have spoken out about King Tuheitia.

When Nga Puhi chairman Sonny Tau stood at Dame Te Atairangikaahu's tangi and claimed the northern tribe wanted the Kingitanga, more than 60,000 hearts stirred in the Waikato.
For at least 150 years, the Tainui iwi have served as caretakers of the Kingitanga. [...]
Formed after a clear directive set in 1858 at Pukawa on the shores of Lake Taupo, the Tainui people have taken care of the Kingitanga movement from the moment their paramount chief Potatau Te Wherowhero was crowned the first Maori King.
The people have held firm to the caretaker position from Tawhiao through Mahuta, Te Rata, Koroki and on to the first Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu. Through Dame Te Ata, the woman who was affectionately known to her subjects as The Lady, has come her son the seventh Maori monarch, Te Arikinui Kingi Tuheitia.
And always that loyalty has remained.
In the past few months, however, the unshakeable faith that has tied Tainui firmly to the Kingitanga has faced a set of challenges that culminated in a press release attacking their king.

Boutique brewery Funkwerks of Colorado says it came up with the name as result of using New Zealand rakau hops, but Mamae Takerei of Tainui says Funkwerks should have done its research.
She says the company has no excuse for not knowing about the Maori monarch.

Award for Wellington Holocaust Centre
The Wellington Holocaust Research and Education Centre has received a a New Zealand Diversity Awards from the Maori King.
The award presented by the Maori King (Tuheitia Paki), was accepted by the Centre’s founding director, Mrs Inge Woolf at this year’s National Diversity Forum in Hamilton.
The awards recognise projects and initiations undertaken by organisations throughout New Zealand that have made a difference in understanding diversity.

King Tuheitia's father Whatumoana Paki has died early this morning. It is understood that he had been ill for some time.
However at his son's coronation celebrations last month he checked himself out of hospital to be with the thousands of Kingitanga followers that attend one of Maoridom's biggest events.

Mr Paki's wife Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu died in 2006 after leading the movement for 40 years - the first woman in its history to do so. This morning close friend Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi said Mr Paki reminisced with her that when Dame Te Ata was appointed Maori Queen in the 1960s, a Tainui kaumatua made it clear to him what his "step behind" position would be. The message came against the difficulty of many accepting a Dame Te Ata as Kingitanga leader because even though she became one of its most loved heads, in the beginning there was opposition to her appointment.

She said her friend shared with her that he'd always wanted a headstone for his wife but kaahui ariki - members of Tainui's royal family - do not have markings. Instead, he planted purple roses named after her around a memorial stone outside their home..

Senior Maori leaders, politicians and Pacific representatives gathered with hundreds of other mourners at Waahi Pa in Huntly yesterday to pay tribute to Whatumoana Paki, father of Maori King Tuheitia. Whatumoana Paki was yesterday laid to rest on the brow of Taupiri Mountain next to the love of his life. Maori Queen Dame Te Atairangikaahu died five years ago and yesterday Mr Paki was buried next to her on the final day of his tangi. The 74-year-old died last week after a long illness.

The couple's love was the subject of many of the speeches during yesterday's service. Grandson Whatumoana Paki Junior said his grandparents' love was the kind that could stand the test of time. The couple were married in 1952, before Dame Te Ata succeeded her father, King Koroki, to the position of head of the Kingitanga movement, and when she was still known as Piki..

Accused Kiwi fraudster remanded until new year - National - NZ Herald News
He allegedly has a criminal past in New Zealand - but neither the police nor the Justice Department will confirm or deny this, saying they can't comment because of the Privacy Act.
He told a friend he was a pall-bearer at the funeral of the Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu - but the office of her son, the Maori King, has never heard of him.

He claimed to be a member of the Tahitian royal family - but the Tahitian royal family have never heard of him.

Hohepa Morehu-Barlow ,an impostor, claimed he is a Tahitian and Maori prince ,but his pretentions have been rejected...
He claimed to be a member of the Tahitian royal family - but the Tahitian royal family have never heard of him.